


Finish Line

by mariabumby



Category: Free!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, M/M, Sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 15:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8494987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariabumby/pseuds/mariabumby
Summary: Established! Sourin, in their 30s. Sousuke decides to swim competitively again in years, in the ironman triathlon. Rin POV, Short!Fic





	

It’s been years since Sousuke last competed in a swimming related official athletic event, and though he wasn’t making a big deal about it, I definitely was. An ironman triathlon in your late thirties is a huge deal, especially when you've ducked away from small swim events since forever, since shoulder injury. Sousuke says the psychology of a triathlon is completely different, that you’re only out to win against yourself, and it’s been high time he took some time off training other athletes to take a good look at his own physique.

 

So it’s just a check-up to you huh, and I guess it was stupid for me to be anxious. To be the one gnawing at my thumb asking if today he’s clocked in enough running today to get a real feel of 42 kilometers under six and a half hours, and if he’s really decided about entering such an iconic sports event out of the blue, no less one you’ve never joined before. and sousuke would just palm his neck, reminding me he’s been finishing bike and running marathons for a while now. And that we met each other swimming competitively in highschool. You know, I used to beat you matsuoka.

 

‘not distance though’

 

‘I’ll train for it. Six months is more than plenty.’

 

He drones out how he could fit in a manageable training schedule alongside his work. He assures me he won’t slack off his share of house chores, and that it’s something he won’t push through with unless I was completely on board with him. I hunt for hidden machinations in his eyes and mouth out ‘ofcourse’. yes, I want you to be officially swimming again. He plants a light peck on his cheek before going out for cycling training like clockwork, and I try not to be so overbearing. Lest I infect him with my own anxiety.

 

I just didn’t know the world would be watching alongside me. I was crying by the time sousuke finished 39th in the qualifiers at Nagoya. Cause he earned a slot to go to championships, to Kona Hawaii - the IronMan itself, and boy did I thought I’d never feel it again, the euphoric high of an olympic medal so well earned, world is confetti,yours and my body is ripping in agonising slow motion seeing the man I love pump fists in the air, exhausted and whole. I cry and it the best cry of my life, that I’m too full in this moment, I mean look at him he didn’t just survive, he’s running into my arms. And Sousuke doesn’t know what to do with me, trying to keep me upright in a crowd by the finish line, when really he should be the one keeling from exhaustion. the bastard has the energy to laugh at me between breaths, look at you he says, in a nice mix of perplexed and endearment.

 

And is it so insane that I feel this gladness, when you come home? I pull my husband in a tight hug, sweat water and hygiene be damned and the words are inadequate but: I’m so proud of him, i’m so proud of him, I’m so proud of him. alright

**Author's Note:**

> running into each others arms trope is such a nice trope to me .. :)


End file.
